Hello everyone, I am here because I'm frustrated and don't know what to do anymore. I am 35 years old and have been having many odd symptoms since March. Fatigue, dry mouth, body pains, no energy, lightheadness, memory issues and a host of other symptoms. I didn't know liver problems could be a worry until I saw my dermatologist about some things that kept popping up on my skin these last 2 months. I did have a ct scan w/o contrast of my abdomen for another reason early may that said my liver was enlarged at 20cm but it was thought to be something called Riedels lobe verses true hepatomegaly, so I didn't give it a second thought.
I went to the dermatologist because I keep seeing these purplish raised dots on my skin that have several tiny veins going away from the center. They are on my chest and arms. I also noticed on my face tiny veins on my nose, around my nose, mouth and chin. What really freaked me out was one day while driving my hands felt really sore. When i turned them over I saw my palms were red and blotchy (all except the middle). I thought it was a rash but after a week it was still there so finally my appt with dermatologist comes and I point out all these things he calls them "Spider Nevu", "Palmer erythema" and Telangiectasia. He pointed out a few things to me and told me to go back to primary and have some blood work done because these things are seen in liver disease.
Off to my primary I go who tells me he checked my liver in May via blood and it was fine. I then bring up the ct scan report and the fact it was done without contrast and he still isn't impressed. I asked him to please send me off for an ultrasound. He isn't happy with me and says all it's going to say is you have fatty liver. I went and had the ultrasound Tuesday before last and got a call from the nurse 2 days later telling me my ultrasound is normal but I have fatty liver which is likely due to my weight or diet and if I'm still having abdominal pain he will send me to gastro. I accept because I had my gallbladder removed in 2010 and have still had the same pain ever since only not as severe. I decided to go pick up the report the same day for my records for the gastro. The report reads "diffuse increased echogenicity of the liver suggesting hepatocelluar disease likely caused by fatty liver".. okay... what is hepatocelluar disease and why wasn't this mentioned to me? I call back and they have me make an appt. I went today and it was a total waste of time. It seemed like my Dr didn't know himself what was. He told me all it means is that I have fatty liver. They just word it different on the report. Hmm well Maybe but why then does it say "heptocullar disease likely caused by fatty liver? This seems to mean I have a disease that was likely caused by fatty liver but all I got from the Dr was crickets... I ask him about all this skin stuff and why it just would suddenly pop up and again all I got was crickets.
I went to the hospital that did the ultrasound that found my gallstones and the report mentioned I have fatty liver but no one ever told me this. I drank heavily in my 20s, I don't mean a few drinks either, I mean shared 5ths with my husband daily and sometimes more but I quit drinking 7 years ago as I realized i had a problem. I am pretty over weight and my diet not great. I had a mountain dew addiction and drank nothing but that all day everyday. I lost appetite a long time ago due to my pain meds so rarely ate and if I did it wasn't wonderful food, lately I have had a very different loss of appetite though. Putting food in my mouth makes me sick and after just a few bites I'm uncomfortably full and this has been the case since February.
For 6 months I took Advil and Tylenol max amounts daily as my pain meds (narcotics) no longer are effective. I was clueless about the effects Tylenol has on your liver. I also have had high triglycerides my whole life actually just given meds for them last month. My bad cholesterol is good but my good cholesterol is low.
I have threw the Tylenol away and put myself on a diet. I am scared out of my mind. Things like liver failure and liver cancer keep popping up in my mind. It seems my Dr doesn't care and I'm left to ponder. I will see the gastro on August 16th but it's still a while off. Why would these skin symptoms suddenly pop up on me? They don't go away and my dermatologist has told me they won't go away not ever except the Palmer erythema could possibly go away if the underlying cause is treated yet my Dr acts like no big deal..
Please help me, I have 3 kids and it takes everything I have to get out of bed and even cook a meal for them and I'm worried I'm gonna die and leave my kids motherless. Yes as you can tell this is causing me great anxiety which isn't normal for me.
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Careful1
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Thank you so much for your advice. My Dr told me there was no medication he could give me to treat it. He said I had to do diet and excersise.
I think I'm gonna change my Dr and I will do the lemon and water. I have already put myself on a diet of meat, veggies and fruit. I'm scared to death that I have some form of liver cancer. The pain has been getting much worse. Esp after I eat and I get nausea after I eat as well.
There is def medicine to remove toxins hun. But sadly no pharmaceutical cure, so your doc is right in a sense. I think your consultant may sort out medication it just sounds like you need it now x
Yes many times and it's always normal. Was also tested for hep b and c and it was negative. My physical symptoms can be thyroid but not all the skin ones.
There is no "normal" with thyroid results, you need to look at where in the ranges your levels fall, if your TSH level came in at the top of the range it would be classed as "normal" (by a dr who doesn't know better !) because it was within the range but it's far from "normal" as a TSH should be at the bottom of the range. Pop over to the thyroiduk forum for some more info, I think you might be surprised at the problems people have getting a diagnosis, all because of the word "normal".
Also liver probs are not uncommon with thyroid disease.
I will check it out. I was basically just told by someone that hepatocelluar disease means either infection or cancer. I don't have infection of the liver. I do not understand why my Dr brushes me off.
Glad to see you here (for those wondering, I was conversing with C1 on another forum and then she disappeared). The advice here is good. Patient info is good for the alcohol forum, but there weren't that many on the liver forum. I was probably one of the most knowledgeable there, but here there are people who know far more than I do.
Hi I think you may have misunderstood my comment, sorry for not being clearer.
I meant that it can be from one to the other not one or the other.
Sorry again, please don't panic
Rita x
Hi
I was diagnosed with unferactivr thyroid and Nash. My Dr said thyroid can cause real issues with weight, I'm on tabs for it. Still got weight issues and dietician said diet fine. It's very frustrating when you aren't getting anywhere. See consultant on 3rd august. Really hope you feel better soon, pain is awful
Hepatocellular disease does NOT mean either infection or cancer. Who told you so? Hepatocellular disease means that your liver cells are not healthy. Your US says you liver cells are not healthy because you have a fatty liver. Fatty liver can be caused by many things, alcohol, bad diet, overweight, certain medication and what not. Fatty liver means that too much fat (triglycerides I believe) is stored within the liver cells. If I recall well, the name is steatosis. If these cells become inflamed, (in this case because of the fat), this is called hepatitis, in our case steatohepatitis. If this is not caused by alcohol, they call this NASH which stands for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.
Your US report does not mention cancer. US can see or suspect that. Had the radiologist seen something suspicious, he would have written that down. US can not see 'infection', I believe.
Stop worrying. Eat healthy. Exercise whatever you can. Walk. Go up stairs. Lose weight. IMPORTANT: Low salt! Few sugar. Lots of fruit and vegetables. NO alohol. NO NSAID's. No more than 2 grams of paracetamol max., and only exceptionally. My hep at least strongly advised me against over the counter pain meds. Take as few medicine as possible. Discuss everything with your doctor.
Very important: See a hepatologist or GI specialized in the liver. He is the one you have to listen to.
Be very wary of using Google to self-diagnose especially with hepatocellular disease. It's all too easy to get your eyes and mind stuck on the worst case scenario when it can also refer to a simple infection.
As you can see I mentioned the natural human blindness to the better meanings of a term and only acknowledge the worst.
They weren't talking about your reply. They were responding to what I said. Someone told me that hepatocelluar meant either person has infection or cancer. It wasn't you that said it, it was someone in a different forum, that actually emailed me and shared their story and that is what they said it meant.
Well at the very least this shows how genuine the people here are because we are more than ready to put our hands up to any mistake and try to put it right ASAP
I got a call from Cleveland clinic because my insurance refered me to the liver specialist there. I had to fax over all my scans and such. She asked about my blood work which I told her was in the normal range. She said skin symptoms that I have don't show up until something is very wrong. I am just a big ball of anxiety now. I did get an appointment but the soonest they have open is in late October. I am very concerned about my well being as she is right. No one that I have spoken to with fatty liver disease has the skin symptoms that I have.
With your anxiety could this be causing skin problems. I know with mine I have a range of issues from lightheaded to sick to heart palpatations etc x try not to worry and like someone said water and lemon is good . Drink lots of water. Also milk thistle tablets are good.
I just wanted to update my post. I still have not seen the liver specialist but my appt with him is next week on the 25th. It has been such a long wait to see him. I did get to finally see the gastro 2 days ago. She tells me I'm showing signs of cirrhosis but that I'm young so she wants to rule out other things. She sent me for a good amount of blood work one of which was an AFP TUMOR MARKER test which kind a freaks me out a bit... she set me up for an endoscopy for the 8/28 and an MRI of my liver on 8/29. She says the next step would be biopsy.
The Palmer erythema has gotten much worse and I am having something else going on that is very strange. I'm olive skin color and normally have never been able to see my veins but it's as if my skin has become transparent and you can see straight through it.. I also have more spider angionomas popping up. I am over all not feeling very well.
I am scared and I hate that it has taking me months to see these specialist..
I am in constant pain now for well over 2 weeks.. constant pain on right side of abdomen and chest, right side rib area and right side of my back at the same level...
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